Grape-stemming device



s. F. 'rRIPL'ET-r GRAPE .STEMMING DEVICE Filed May 5,- 1924 .5a INVENTOR Sim-amy F. Trgveit BY@ MW ATTORNEY or" thisla-pp-lioation.

Patented Feb. 17, 1925.

sTANL-EYE. TRIPLETT, oFeEREs, GALIFONIJ.

GRArEl'sTEli/IMING DEVICE.

To all whom t may-aendern: 1

LETT, a citizen of the United States, resid-ing?- at Ceres, icountyot' Stanislaus, i Sta't'e:3 lot' California', ha-vei-nvent-ed certa-in new-1 and; useful Improvements in l GrapefSltennni-ng` Device-s;- V"and 'I- do `declare the 'tol-lowingA to be a talk-clear, fand exaetdeseripti'on ofthe saine, reference being-hadfto theaccornpanywV ing draw-ings; fand to the charac-ters otlfr'e-'Ea-ff erencemarked thereon, --Wh-icili 'torn-ii apart-1 Thislinventiofnrelates to -adevi tor rei-S inov-ing the- Sterns -troni -grap'es,--`f-niy'iiniain3 object being-to provide av machin "'tfori thel purpose `Which-'Will autoinatieal renie-reif the vstems from individual grapes, Witl-i'ou'tl any. inanual assistance-'andi ivithoutf the dang-"er of the igrapes fb'ein'fr-lbru-is'ecihl fspl-iti for crushed-in the operations My "apparatus" isparticularly" desiigfield-to be fused-in -stenfnn-ing-f Thompson =seedless=- grapes,--- Whiel1-4 While easily-i broken-iap-airti trein -a bunch, still have short stenisiattaehed': thereto. The lack of `ai 1nachine1tor-aeinow ing the steins, and the? inipo'ssibi'litjif-fof doing so quickly fand cheaply@ by ihandgliasiheretow tore retarded -thel canning of these 'and isiini-'i lar grapes on aicoinniereialibasissif lVith'the use oifn'iyfapparatus;tliistdillieulty is overcome,` and 1 the. f grapes' i inayfibe quickly and 'easilyprepared ft'oriffcanning. a f

'A furtherobject of :theinvention'i's to produce-a Vsiinpleland- .inexpensive :devicef andyet one Which `Willfbc esceedinglyi-:efief:l'` tive for the' purpose for; Whielr iti is designe'dr These objectsV I' afccolnplish fbg-'finieansot such structure and 'l relative arrangenient'-` oft parts as will #fully-rappeur.by ia perusal-oit the ffolloivingl specification and claimen-f In the' drawings i similar vcharacters of refr-*- erence indicate-.i corresponding aparts i in the several vievvsz... y

Fig. l is a top plan View of the apparatus.'

F ig. 2 is a cross section, enlarged, on the line 2.-2 of Eig. l;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of t-he device.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the numeral l denotes a smooth-faced member, preferably of sheet iron or the like, which is formed With a plurality of transversely spaced troughs 2, extending from end to end of the ineinber l.

The-l member' l, and 'consequently-"ftho troughs, W-hilein a connnonhorizontalplane1 transversely, 4have a slope/troni end; to end,I4 the-Vangleof this-sloper-being sulii'cicntto f cause'. any-5 grapes plaeedin the troughs, to `60 roll along the saine bylgravityr The troughsarefslotted '-along theirbottoms-ias at 3i, the slotsvhaving aiuidth-iabout f halt that of the troughs, andbeing.` bridgL-idy` across at Sui-table inter-*als as at l: to prevent 65 undue weakening ot the sheet of n'ietalot` which the troughs lare formed:

Underf-the. troughsare4 softfrubber rollers 5, extending the full length of--the-devicc and journaled--at t-liei-r-ends-las at 5a. These 70 rollers areE arranged-f in `'contacting paiasl whose'fline-of `contact-fliesfin a vertical plano centrally -ot -theslots-; The f rollers are gealred or otherwise connected together to be driven in common in suchY a ina-nnerthatthorollers of each pair-'Will niovetoward,eachotherand downwardlyA t'ronitheir` upperfaces.

Extending-` lengthwise -ot and adj arent the opposite fsideshot' the f rollers --torining :the pairs -areuivires (i, for the purpose -hereinatten set fforth.

Inuorder.- to preventany tendency. olf-therollersf,-\vliicl1 arefunsupported beta-'een their ends, from spreading transversely when any Steins passytherebetween, additional and non"- resilient rollers 17 are-mounted to engage the outermost-fotl the` transversely alined pairsofthe--rollers 5, as shown-in Fig.

An apronSleads-to the upper-endstotaliV the troughsg and-abo-ve-'the apron --and beyond-fthe-trough-s I preferably mount a-lixed gradingscreeirV S). Abo-vel--thisscreen are` spaced shaking.-screensl() ot suitable char` actor, flexiblycniountedfin `any-well"known U mannenand-arranged -to be agitated nby anyY of the 1suitable vmechanisms commonly-used foi-1 the purpose.

In operation,the-grapes to be stemmed are-.pla-Ced, in the form-ot bunches, on theuppermost shaker--sereenx' y The :shaking ac,` tion to which the grapes are subjected while on these screens will cause most ot the grapes to be separated from the main or bunch stem, and they Will drop through the shaker and grade screens onto the apron 8, from which they will roll into the troughs, Whose Width. is such as to accommodate one grape of an average size, as indicated at l1. In rolling down the troughs, the tendency is for the stems of the grapesto project through the slots at some point in the length thereof, when they will be at once engaged and pulled off by the oppositely turning and yieldable rollers thereunder.

The rollers are of small diameter, so that their point of contact will be but a short distance below the troughs, thereby insuring that short stems will be caught and removed.

The stems when thus removed, will pass between and below the rollers, and in the event that they should stick to the rollers and tend to pass up and around the same, the wires 6 will act as wipers and prevent the stems from so doing, causing the latter to drop from the rollers.

Should any stems be missed with the initial passage of the grapes along the troughs, it is an easy matter to dump them onto the apron to undergo another stemming operation.

The rollers may be driven in any suitable manner depending somewhat. on the sive of the machine.

I have indicated one of the rollers as having a pinion 12, meshed with a gear 13 whose shaft 14 may be connected to a power or hand drive of suitable character.

' lVhile I have shown three troughs and a corresponding number of stemming rollers, as many of said troughs as may be necessary may of course be employed in a single machine.

The apron 8 preferably has a greater slope than the troughs, so that the sides of the intervening ridges 1'r1 formed in the member 1l between the troughs will automatically converge and merge with the apron thereby forming means to guide the grapes from the apron into the troughs.

Thilo I have specically described this structure as being intended for grape-stemming, it. will be evident that it may be used for stemming other fruit, with possibly some modifications in construction and arrangement to suit different fruits.

The sides of the troughs are nearly straight from their upper ends to the rollers, whose contour said sides then follow to the slots. IIhis enables the grapes to seat close to the rollers while not actually contacting with the same and the rollers being of small diameter, will engage short stems. The width between the trough sides is less than the length of the grapes, which are oblong in shape. The grapes are thus caused to roll along the troughs with their major axes in a vertical plane.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets fort-h in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be restored to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A fruit stemming device including a trough down which the fruit is adapted to roll single file, said trough having a slot along its bottom, driven rollers under the trough and arranged to engage and pull olf any stems projecting through the slot, and wires adjacent and extending lengthwise of the rollers beyond the line of contact thereof in the direction of their rotation for wiping off any stems sticking to the rollers.

2. A grape stemming device including a pair of parallel and adjacent rollers adapted to be rotated so that their upper faces turn toward each other, and a trough above the rollers and disposed centrally therebetween; the bottom of the trough being slotted and depending below the level of the upper edges of the rollers and following the peripheral contour of such rollers to the edges o-f the slot whereby to support a grape in close proximity to the rollers so that a short stem will be gripped therebetween.

3. A grape stemming device including a pair of parallel and adjacent rollers adapted to be rotated so that their upper faces' turn toward each other,`and a tro-ugh above the rollers and disposed centrali-y therebetween; the bottom of the trough being slotted and depending below the level of the upper edge of the rollers and the sides of the trough being substantially vert-ical and spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the diameter of a grape, whereby the latter will tend to assume a position in the trough with its stem projecting through the slot.

In testimony whereof I affix my signaturev STANLEY F. TRIPLETT. 

